U.S. patent number 8,251,713 [Application Number 13/096,984] was granted by the patent office on 2012-08-28 for contact terminal having insulative cap.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Chun-Yi Chang, Nan-Hung Lin.
United States Patent |
8,251,713 |
Lin , et al. |
August 28, 2012 |
Contact terminal having insulative cap
Abstract
An electrical connector includes an insulative housing and a
plurality of contacts received in the housing. Each contact has a
base portion, a resilient arm and a contacting portion located at
one end of the resilient arm. The contacting portion has a free end
attached with an insulative member so as to prevent short circuit
with an adjacent contact.
Inventors: |
Lin; Nan-Hung (New Taipei,
TW), Chang; Chun-Yi (New Taipei, TW) |
Assignee: |
Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co.,
Ltd. (New Taipei, TW)
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Family
ID: |
44858583 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/096,984 |
Filed: |
April 28, 2011 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20110269344 A1 |
Nov 3, 2011 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Apr 28, 2010 [TW] |
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99207748 U |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/71 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
13/2442 (20130101); H01R 12/718 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
12/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;439/71,68,70,83 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Johnson; Amy Cohen
Assistant Examiner: Imas; Vladimir
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Cheng; Andrew C. Chung; Wei Te Ming
Chieh Chang
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electrical connector used for electrically connecting a
mating electrical component having conductive pads to a printed
circuit board, comprising: an insulative housing defining a mating
port for receiving the mating electrical component; and a plurality
of contacts retained in the insulative housing, each contact
comprising a base portion fixed in the housing, a resilient arm
obliquely extending from the base portion and a soldering portion
for connecting to the printed circuit board; wherein at least one
of the resilient arm defines an undersurface vertically facing the
resilient arm of an adjacent contact and the at least one of the
resilient arms is arranged with an insulative member on the
undersurface thereof such that short-circuit with respect to the
resilient arm of the adjacent contact is avoided.
2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at
least one of the resilient arm comprises a contacting portion
formed at a free end thereof and the free end bends downwardly.
3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein each
contact comprises a pair of H-shaped retaining portions located at
opposite sides of the base portion and coplanar with the base
portion.
4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein each
contact comprises a U-shaped bending portion interconnecting the
resilient arm and the base portion.
5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at
least one of the resilient arm is substantially parallel to the
resilient arm of the adjacent contact while a free end of the at
least one of the resilient arm is located directly over the
resilient arm of the adjacent contact in a vertical direction.
6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
insulative member is in a manner of insulative layer that is plated
on the undersurface.
7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
contacts are arranged in the insulative housing in rows and
columns, and the resilient arms of the adjacent contacts along the
same row at least partly overlap with each other along a vertical
direction.
8. An electrical connector, comprising: an insulative housing; and
an array of contacts received in the housing, each contact having
an obliquely extending arm which is formed with a backside and a
free end, the free end overlapping a backside of an adjacent
contact and movable toward the same when the arm is deflected;
wherein either the backside or the free end is disposed with an
insulative member such that short circuit between two adjacent
contacts is avoided.
9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 8, wherein the
extending arm has a dome-shaped contacting portion at one end
thereof, and the insulative member is attached on the free end of
the dome-shaped contacting portion.
10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein the
insulative member is in a manner of insulative layer that is plated
on the free end of the contact.
11. An electrical connector for use with an electronic package,
comprising: an insulative housing; a plurality of contacts embedded
in the housing with deflectable contacting sections extending out
of the housing for contacting the electronic package; the
contacting section of each of said contacts being applied with
insulative material on an underside of a specific position where is
downwardly closest to the corresponding contacting section of an
adjacent contact thereunder when the contacting sections of all the
contacts are downwardly deflected by the electronic package for
preventing short-circuit therebetween.
12. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein said
specific position is located around a tip of the contacting
section.
13. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein a
contact point of the contacting section of each of said contacts
with the electronic package, is proximal to said specific
position.
14. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein the
contact and the corresponding adjacent contact are neighboring with
each other in a direction along which the contacting section of the
contact extends.
15. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein said
contacts are arranged in the insulative housing in rows and
columns, and the contacting sections of the adjacent contacts along
the same row at least partly overlap with each other along a
vertical direction.
16. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein the
specific position is downwardly closest to the corresponding
contacting section of an adjacent contact thereunder in a vertical
direction.
17. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein said
short-circuit prevention occurs between the two adjacent contacts
in a same row of which the corresponding contacting section
essentially extends in a same direction in a top view.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact terminal, and more
particularly to a contact terminal having an insulative cap. The
present invention also relates to a fine pitch connector where risk
of short-circuit between two adjacent contact terminal can be
properly avoided.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors are widely used in various electrical devices
for establishing electrical connection between two electronic
members, such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) package and a PCB
(Printed Circuit Board).
The electrical connector generally includes an insulative housing
and a larger number of contacts received in the housing and
arranged in rows and columns. With rapid development of technology,
the electrical connector is designed with more and more small
profile, and the pitch of the contacts is also subject to be
decreased. The contacts deflect and move toward one another when
engage with an electronic device. In worst scenario, physical
contact and short circuit between adjacent contacts may occur due
to the deflection of the contacts, thereby destroying the
electrical connection with the electronic device.
Typically, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,313, an electrical
socket for interconnecting an LGA chip with a PCB includes an
insulative housing (2) and a multiplicity of terminals (1). The
housing includes a plurality of passageways (26) extending
therethrough for engagingly accommodating corresponding terminals.
Each terminal includes a locating plate (10) arranged in rows, and
a mating beam (12) connected to the locating plate and extending
along the corresponding row. The terminals and the mating beams are
arranged so that a projection A of each mating beam along the
corresponding row is longer than a distance B between each two
adjacent locating plates of two adjacent terminals arranged in the
same row. Accordingly, when the mating beams are engaged with
electrodes of the LGA chip, the mating beams are long enough to
provide excellent resilient deflection characteristics, thereby
ensuring good mechanical and electrical connection between the
mating beams and the electrodes. As illustrated in FIGS. 1-9, it
can be readily seen that two adjacent contact terminals are
overlapped along vertical direction so as to meet the fine-pitch
requirements. As a result, the risk of short-circuiting between two
adjacent contact terminals are therefore raised.
In view of the above, an improved contact is desired to overcome
the above-mentioned problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an
improved electrical connector having short circuit-free
contacts.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided
an electrical connector which includes an insulative housing and a
plurality of contacts received in the housing. Each contact has a
base portion, a resilient arm and a contacting portion located at
one end of the resilient arm. The contacting portion has a free end
attached with an insulative member so as to prevent short circuit
with an adjacent contact.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a contact of the electrical
connector as shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the contacts as shown in FIG. 2
engaging with an IC package; and
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an array of the contacts as shown
in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present
invention in detail.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, an electrical connector made in
accordance with the present invention is used to interconnect an IC
package 3 and a PCB (not shown). The electrical connector includes
an insulative housing 2 and a plurality of contacts 1 received in
the housing 2.
Particularly referring to FIG. 1, the insulative housing 2 is
integrally molded and has a rectangular shape. The housing 2
includes a base 20 and a mating port 21 located at a central
position of the base 20 and defining an array of passageways (not
labeled) for receiving contacts 1. Four positioning blocks 22
respectively extends upwardly from four corners of the base 20 for
positioning the IC package 3.
Particularly referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, the contact 1 is made by
stamping and bending a metal sheet. The contact 1 includes a base
portion 10 and a pair of retaining portions 11 extending vertically
at opposite sides of the base portion 10 and coplanar with the base
portion 10. The retaining portions 11 are respectively formed with
barbs 12 facing opposite to each other. A notch 13 is formed above
the barb 12 to increase the elasticity of the barb 12. A bending
portion 14 extends rearwardly from the base portion 10 and then
extends forwardly such that a U-shape thereof is formed. A
resilient arm 15 extends upwardly and obliquely from the U-shaped
bending portion 14. A domed contacting potion 16 is formed at the
end of the resilient arm 15 and has a free end extending
downwardly. The free end of the contacting portion 16 is plated
with an insulative layer 17. Particularly referring to FIG. 4, a
contacting portion 16 is located above a resilient arm 15 of an
adjacent contact 1.
Particularly referring to FIG. 3, when the contacting portion 16 is
over pressed by the IC package 3, the contacting portion 16 moves
toward the resilient arm 15 of the adjacent contact 1 and is likely
to come into contact with the resilient arm 15. In such a case, the
insulative layer 17 works and prevents potential short circuit
between the adjacent contacts 1.
In an alternative embodiment, an insulative cap, rigid or soft, is
employed in stead of the plated insulative layer to cover the free
end of the contacting portion of the contact. Similar performance
could be achieved.
While preferred embodiments in accordance with the present
invention has been shown and described, equivalent modifications
and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the
spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of
the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *